


running down to the riptide

by kathillards



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Ninja Steel
Genre: F/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 00:57:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11956353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathillards/pseuds/kathillards
Summary: She’s the prettiest girl he’s ever seen and he thinks this might be a problem. —- HayleyLevi





	running down to the riptide

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beatswords](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beatswords/gifts).



> happy birthday kels!! i love you dearly and i hope you will enjoy the pining!levi fic we all need after the last episode. also levi swifton is real and there's nothing we can do about it.  
> (i promise there's no cheating in here bc levi and hayley wouldn't do that.)

**running down to the riptide**

this cowboy's running from himself  
and she's been living on the highest shelf

\- _vance joy, riptide_

.

It’s funny, because he’s only had two girlfriends since he became famous, and yet the media would have you believe he’s dated his way through half of Nashville and left a string of broken hearts in his wake.

“Really, only two?” Hayley laughs when he tells her this over their home economics project. “Wait, what about that redhead singer from that one girl band, I thought you guys were dating like two months ago?”

“Just a rumor,” Levi confirms, dipping his finger in the chocolate they’re supposed to be using for their sculptures. “Every time I run into a celebrity on the streets, the paps are already planning our wedding. That’s why I like it here, there’s no other celebrities in Summer Cove.”

“Yeah, but now if you go get fro-yo with a girl from our class, they’re gonna be all over your mystery girl,” Hayley teases. “Hey, don’t eat all the chocolate, we need that.”

Levi grins at her and swipes his finger over her cheek, leaving a streak of chocolate in his wake. “Relax, we have a whole mountain of it,” he says casually as she gapes at him. “That reminds me, do you want to get fro-yo before training?”

Hayley narrows her eyes at him. “Don’t think I won’t get you back for that,” she warns.

Levi holds up his hands innocently. “Get me back for what?”

.

He doesn’t intend to notice the way her hair catches the light, but it kind of happens without him planning on it. As innocent as it is, he can still feel the phantom itch of cameras flashing behind him when they sit down together at the fro-yo place.

Although, maybe this time, the phantom cameras are her boyfriend.

“So, that British actress, also a no-go?” she asks, digging her spoon into her vanilla-mango swirl yogurt. “I thought you guys were cute together.”

“We went on one date, and it was only because I had a song on the soundtrack,” Levi says. “Besides, it’s way too hard to date when you’re famous. Especially if you’re _both_ famous.”

“That’s why you should only date fans,” Hayley says solemnly. “I know that girl in Home Ec was staring at you all through class.”

Levi snorts. “She’s not my type.”

Hayley props her chin on her palm and leans over the table to smile at him. “What _is_ your type, Levi Weston?”

“I don’t know,” he says, all his stock answers for interviews escaping him. Mostly because all those stock answers – _good sense of humor, athletic, beautiful smile_ – seem at once too vague and too specific. “Just someone… who can keep up with me.”

“Tall order,” Hayley says lightly, pulling back. The scent of her lemon shampoo disappears with her. Levi stares down at his yogurt and feels remarkably not-hungry.

.

As much as the gossip magazines like to paint him as a womanizer – and as much as his label tells him to lean into that image, it’s good for cross-genre appeal, Levi – he’s never been the type to steal a girl away from her boyfriend.

Not that he thinks he could. Watching Hayley and Calvin together, even when they’re only training, it’s clear how much they adore each other. How impossible it would be to pry them apart. How ridiculous to even imagine a Summer Cove without Hayley-and-Calvin, together, a package deal, inseparable.

He tells himself he’s not imagining it. But when he takes a break from training and goes to sit on the sidelines, opening up his songwriting notebook just in case inspiration strikes and feeling his pen scribble away without him noticing – all the lyrics suddenly seem to be about her.

“Hey, Levi!”

He jumps, looking up to see Hayley grinning at him, Calvin having disappeared from her side to go get snacks with Preston, apparently.

“Wanna go a few rounds?” she asks, twirling her sword around.

Levi glances down at the half-finished phrases about warrior girls and frozen yogurt and smiles like sunshine – cheesy, romantic, and ridiculous, like he’s some schoolgirl with a crush – and says, despite his better judgment, “Sure.”

.

They’re walking home together one day – by chance, the apartment his label had rented for him happened to be on the route to her house – when the question slips out of him without warning: “How long have you and Calvin been together?”

“Oh,” Hayley says, and her hand goes to the bracelet on her wrist unconsciously. “About a year and a bit? It’ll be two years next June.”

“Wow,” Levi says, impressed despite himself. “That’s way longer than any of my relationships.”

“Well, we can’t all be superstars with crazy schedules,” Hayley laughs, nudging him in the arm. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll meet a nice girl who’s not just after you for your fame and money one day.”

“Don’t forget my good lucks,” he adds, and her laugh brightens the air around them. “No, seriously, it’s cool you guys have lasted that long. Most teenagers don’t.”

Hayley eyes him carefully. “You say that like you’re not a teenager.”

“I am, but.” Levi shrugs. “Didn’t really have a childhood. It’s all kind of a blur now… photoshoots and recording sessions and interviews. I guess Summer Cove High is really my first chance at having a normal life.”

“Too bad about the monsters trying to kill you every week,” she says with a smile. Levi grins back at her. “Your house is coming up on that street, by the way.”

“Oh, right.” Stupid, he’d gotten caught up in the moment again. “Where is yours, anyway?”

“Way down there,” Hayley says, pointing off into the distance, down a road that winds around a park and seems to lead to the forest. “We live on the edge of town, my moms and I. They’re really into nature and I was always a bit of a flower child.”

“I can see that,” Levi says and Hayley smiles and ducks her head. “I guess you know the forest pretty well then.”

“Oh, yeah.” Hayley waves a hand. “It’s not very wild – nothing in Summer Cove is. They say there are mountain lions hiding in there but _I’ve_ never seen one. But it’s got lots of space for tree-climbing and…”

She trails off. Levi raises an eyebrow at her.

“Canoodling?” he suggests.

Hayley rolls her eyes and shoves at his shoulder. “Who says ‘canoodling’ anymore?” she giggles.

“Sorry, what do they call it here?” he asks mock-seriously.

Hayley grins at him. “Good _bye_ , Levi,” she says, turning to walk away. He tries not to stare after her too long, and fails miserably.

.

He sends four of his five new songs over to his agent and the record label. The fifth one had too many references that he didn’t think Calvin would be too pleased to hear, no matter how much he keeps telling himself that all his songwriting is innocent admiration.

She writes back with a note that says: _Great songs! But we can’t put all of them on the album, they’re all kind of the same thing. Too much unrequited love. Got any songs about friendship, homesickness, that sort of thing? People love those._

Levi sighs. He can write a song about friendship easy enough, but homesickness… he hasn’t been homesick for a while. Not since moving to Summer Cove.

.

He writes a song about monsters and battles, figuring most people will take it as a metaphor, and then he gets injured in a fight, as if fate had it out for him, specifically.

“Don’t move,” Hayley tells him, carefully wrapping the bandage around his torso. Levi winces as her hand brushes raw red skin from where the monster had struck him. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I stepped into a pit of poisonous rattlesnakes.” Hayley shoots him a look and he manages a smile for her. “I’m kidding. It’s fine. He barely scratched me.”

“Uh-huh,” she says dubiously, pressing down the gauze to his chest. Her hand lingers over his breastbone, where he’s sure she can hear his heart thumping underneath. “Don’t do something that risky again. I know you wanna protect Brody, but we can’t have you getting killed.”

“I know,” Levi says, flexing his good shoulder experimentally. “What would you all do without me getting you VIP tickets to all my shows, huh?”

Hayley smiles at him. “We’d never listen to music again if you died.”

“Good,” he says seriously. She laughs and pats him on his shoulder – the bad shoulder, but he barely registers any pain from her touch – before heading off to check on her boyfriend.

.

“Dude,” Brody says, pulling him aside during lunch one day, “what’s going on with you and Hayley?”

Levi bristles automatically, hating the suspicion that tinges Brody’s voice. “What do you mean?”

“I just mean,” Brody sighs. “You two have been hanging out a lot lately and… I don’t wanna overstep, but…”

“Then don’t,” Levi says flatly.

Brody frowns at him. “Levi… she has a boyfriend.”

“Is that really what you think of me?” Levi demands, trying not to let the hurt seep into his tone. “I would never do that. To _anyone_ , least of all to my _friends_.”

“I know!” Brody says quickly. “I know you wouldn’t. But… sometimes, we can’t help who we fall for.”

“Right.” Levi shakes his arm out of Brody’s grasp. “Why don’t you worry about Preston and stop reading too much into things with me and Hayley, then?”

Brody’s mouth opens, but he doesn’t manage to get a word out before Levi has left. He feels a little bad – okay, a lot bad – but it’s one thing to have your insecurities yell at you in your own head; it’s a whole other to have them voiced out loud by your best friend.

.

He works hard on pretending that it’s nothing, and for a few weeks, it seems to be working – to be getting better. He can’t train his body not to react but he can train himself not to notice it. And then, one day, after a fight that leaves all of them drained and scattered around the school campus to reenergize, she comes to sit by him.

Levi jumps, in spite of himself.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” Hayley says, settling down on the steps that lead to the main lunch area. All the tables are empty right now, since it’s a weekend and getting late, and none of them are technically supposed to be at school anyway (but that’s what Mick is for).

“It’s fine,” he says, propping his hands behind him and leaning back. The sky is a much more interesting subject of survey than her face, he tells himself. “What’s up? Where’s Calvin?”

It’s so rare to see one without the other. Hayley shrugs and says, “He’s busy with Preston. Some new magic trick. Thought I’d come see what you’re up to.”

“Ah,” he says, as if he’d been ‘up to’ anything and not just sitting there waiting for the pain to recede from his ribs and his legs. They sit in companiable silence for a long moment, watching the shadows of the trees grow longer and the sun sink down over the horizon.

It’s almost twilight when she asks him, suddenly, “Have you ever been in love?”

Levi’s gaze cuts to her. Hayley doesn’t look at him, but she pulls her knees up to her chest and lays her chin on them. Out here, in the open air, so far away from her boyfriend, she looks so different from how he’s used to seeing her.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “Maybe. I don’t know if I would know when it happens. Why?”

Hayley shakes her head. “I was just wondering… Sarah said something earlier, about love and how… I don’t know, I guess it just got me thinking. I’ve only ever been with Calvin. I figured… you might have some different experiences.”

Levi half-smiles. “I definitely do.”

“Like what?” she asks.

He debates with himself for a moment before saying, “Well, I’ve… had feelings for a girl who I know doesn’t feel the same way.”

“What?” Hayley laughs, incredulous. “Who wouldn’t have feelings for you? You’re _Levi Weston_.”

“Yeah, well.” Levi shrugs and looks away again. “It doesn’t always matter how rich and famous you are. Sometimes it just still doesn’t work out.”

“I’m sorry.” Hayley leans in and presses her shoulder to his, warm and comforting. “Is this recent? Like… a girl from Summer Cove?”

He manages to keep his eyes from widening, but only just. “No, I – of course not. I mean… it doesn’t matter, really. I’m not gonna go after her anyway.”

“You never know unless you try,” she points out. “How do you know she doesn’t feel the same way?”

Levi laughs, looking down at the steps below them. “She, uh, has – had a boyfriend. Last I checked, anyway.”

“Oh.” When he glances over at her, she’s worrying her lip between her teeth. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” he says. “It does suck.”

Hayley pulls apart from him just a little, to set her head back on her knees. “Well, while we’re being honest… sometimes I wonder if I… if I got together with Calvin too early. I mean, we were freshmen. And we’ve known each other forever. I just… god, this makes me sound like a horrible person.”

“Not at all,” Levi says gently. “You can’t be any worse than me, wanting another guy’s girlfriend, after all.”

Hayley smiles up at him. “That’s not so terrible, if you’re not going to do anything to hurt them. You’re only human. And you’re a good guy.”

“You’re only human, too,” he reminds her. “It’s okay to… wonder how things might be different. Right?”

“Right,” she says with an exhale of breath. “It’s okay to wonder.”

Levi smiles at her and she doesn’t say anything else, but the air grows colder around them and they stay there, sitting on the steps, watching the sun fall down. It’s not much, but he thinks… it could be enough. It’s okay to wonder and maybe it’s okay to breathe.


End file.
